Freedom of the Sky
by ArianBerk0409
Summary: "Two will come, one with fall. Those with the heart of the forest and the freedom of the sky shall unite the clans when the time is right to face the unforgiving path of ice"
1. Allegiances

Allegiances

Thunderclan

Leader: Blizzardstar- stocky light-gray tom with white paws and blue eyes

Deputy: Gustwing- brown she-cat with white chest

Medicine Cat: Thymeheart- dark brown tabby-tom with pale green eyes

Apprentice: Blazefoot

Warriors (toms, and she-cats without kits):

Alderfrost- brown and white she-cat with amber eyes

Apprentice: Eaglepaw

Badgertooth- black and white tom with amber eyes

Duskwind- brown tabby tom with long legs

Elmfur- gray tom with blue eyes

Bramblestripe- mottled white and gray she-cat with darker striped tail

Furzewing- gray and white she-cat with blue eyes

Mousepatch- pale brown she-cat with dark brown patches on face and chest

Cedarsnow- dark gray tom with white legs

Goldenclaw- long-furred golden she-cat

Hailheart- white tom speckled with gray spots

Apprentice: Quailpaw

Flamepelt- russet she-cat with green eyes

Lioncloud- golden-brown tom with yellow eyes

Apprentice: Aspenpaw

Sunfoot- ginger tabby she-cat with light cream paws and blue eyes

Mallowthorn- pale brown and gray tom

Willowpath- dark brown she-cat with amber eyes

Apprentices (cats six moons or older, in training to become warriors):

Blazefoot- small ginger tom; medicine cat apprentice

Quailpaw- black and white she-cat with green eyes

Aspenpaw- leggy white and ginger she-cat

Eaglepaw- dark ginger she-cat

Queens (she-cats nursing or expecting kits):

Ripplenose- blue-gray she-cat with yellow eyes (nursing Blizzardstar's kits: Kestrelkit- dark gray, almost black, tom with blue eyes, and Poppykit- pale gray and white she-cat)

Elders:

Ashtail- pale gray tom with white splashes and amber eyes

Shadowclan

Leader: Ravenstar- long-furred black tom

Deputy: Gorsestone- gray tom

Medicine Cat: Pinedapple- tortoiseshell she-cat

Riverclan

Leader: Splashstar- blue she-cat with yellow eyes

Deputy: Perchclaw- dark brown tom with green eyes

Medicine Cat: Hollybark- stout black tom

Windclan

Leader: Rabbitstar- skinny brown tom

Deputy: Wrenfeather- black and white she-cat with orange eyes

Medicine Cat: Stonesong- pale grayish-white she-cat

Cats outside the Clans

Maple- cream she-cat with brown flecks and blue eyes (mother of Spruce and Cloud)

Spruce- brown and cream tom with amber eyes

Cloud- ginger she-cat with white paws and blue eyes


	2. Prologue

Prologue

Snow swirled outside the alcove that sheltered a glittering pool of water, clear enough that it reflected the stars far up above. A pale gray tom and a dark brown tom padded down the path, paws slipping easily into the pawprints worn into the rock from the time of their ancient ancestors. The gray tom glanced into the alcove, eyes reflecting the wonder and the stars on the surface of the pool. He knelt down and observed his brown companion, who had his nose pressed firmly against the pool's glittering surface and was in a peaceful, sleep-like trance.

The gray tom sighed shakily and pressed his nose into the pool, wincing at the cold, biting chill of the water as it swept him up and away into the land of his ancestors. He blinked open his cerulean eyes, and was amazed to find himself in a peaceful glade, rippling in a calm wind. He looked next to him, pleased to see the brown tom sitting there peacefully calm as he licked a paw and drew it over his whiskers absentmindedly.

His attention was diverted as the brown tom leapt to his paws and beckoned him forward to meet nine cats with stars swirling on their pelts. The gray tom walked forward on shaking legs, stopping in front of a fox-red tom with wise yellow eyes.

"Welcome to Starclan, Blizzardfoot. Are you ready to receive your nine lives?" questioned the russet tom, and Blizzardfoot nodded swiftly to Brackenstar, the beloved leader he had served under as deputy. "With this life, I give you bravery. Face your foes head-on, and use courage to push your clanmates to be the best warriors they can be."

As the life swept through Blizzardfoot, a small black she-cat with a splash of white on her chest padded forward, and Blizzardfoot had to stoop to receive his next life. She dabbed her nose to his muzzle, and he inwardly winced as a lightning bolt of fury shot through him, then was swiftly replaced by a settling calm. "With this life, I give you mercy. Use this life wisely, and always treat others who oppose your ideals with the mercy of a true, respectable warrior."

She rejoined the cats of the starry ranks as Blizzardfoot was presented with six more lives for judgement, mentoring, love, fairness, insight, and loyalty. He staggered on his paws, exhausted from the ordeal of taking on the power of eight additional lives. As he caught his breath, a little gray tabby she-cat trotted forward, her blue eyes sparkling with pride and amusement. Blizzardfoot's breath caught in his chest as he stared at the spirit of his fallen sister, Frostpaw, who had died during a border skirmish with Shadowclan at the end of their apprenticeships.

She smiled at him, her cerulean eyes, so like his own, sparkling with pride. She stretched up on her toes to press her muzzle to his own. "With this life, I give you forgiveness. Remember to let go of all your rage, your hidden anger and vengeance. With anger comes darkness, and only the light of the ones you love and care about most can make you see that. My death was an accident, and no honorable warrior ever intends to kill, especially an apprentice. I have already forgiven Shadetooth long ago, and it's time you did the same, brother. I am so proud of the leader you are to become. I love you so much, and I look forward to seeing you in a future where we will walk the stars together forever."

Blizzardfoot nodded, emotions that had been storming his mind and enclosing his heart slipping away into the starry heavens around him. He finally was free of his guilt and need for revenge, and could now feel completely at ease in order to lead his beloved clan to greatness.

Frostpaw stepped back into the starry ranks, and she raised her muzzle to the sky and yowled, "Welcome, Blizzardstar!"

"Blizzardstar, Blizzardstar, Blizzardstar!"

As the newly-named Blizzardstar soaked in the praise of Starclan, he felt a sudden chill hit his flanks. He turned slowly, blinking in shock at the sight. A swirling blizzard blocked out all the light from all sides. Very slowly, ghostly pawprints embedded themselves in the fallen snow, a clear path leading towards an enigmatic shadowy figure standing at the end.

Blizzardstar padded forward cautiously, claws grappling for a grip as the snowy path quickly became covered in a layer of slick ice seemingly out of nowhere. He flattened his ears to his head in fear, his tail lashing in the sub-arctic winds. He yowled to the stranger: "Who are you? What do you want?"

However, the only answer he received was a battering of snow along his haunches. As he snarled at the icy blow, the last thing he saw before the swirling whiteness blotted out his vision was of a cream she-cat with startled blue eyes, mouth open in a soundless, fearful wail before she was cut off abruptly by a glittering monster.


	3. Lost, But Not Forgotten

Chapter 1

"RUN!" Paws pounding, heart racing, fear blazing. "Run! Faster–_faster_, Cloud!"

The searing heat trapped in the endless black rock of the Thunderpath burned the young cat's paw pads as she streaked across the tarmac. She was a blur of ginger fur as she sprinted for her life after the streaming cream tail of her brother.

She stretched out her paws, legs thrumming beneath her as she finally reached the cool grass and welcome shade of the far side of the Thunderpath. Panting heavily next to her, the brown-and-cream heap of fur that made her brother lolled in the fragrant ferns.

Taking a few heartbeats to calm the fear still pulsing beneath her pelt, the young bracken-colored she-cat set to lick the grit out of her scraped-up pads. Looking around her, she frowned for a moment before flicking her tail under the nose of her now-sleeping brother.

He raised his head quickly, eyes wide with alarm before they narrowed as he regarded her sleepily. "What is it, Cloud?"

"Spruce, can you help me look for some dock? My paws are on fire!"

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Spruce rose to his paws, jaws parted and eyes narrowed in concentration as he scented for the sharp-smelling leaves of the dock plant. He padded behind a bramble thicket, mewing in triumph as he snatched some dark green leaves in his mouth. Trotting to his sister, he spat them in front of her, settling down next to her to chew them into a soothing poultice that she gratefully applied to her sore paws.

Meowing her thanks, she curled into his flank, eyes half-shut as she began to reminisce. At nearly six moons old, she and her brother should still be living with their mother and other littermates.

But, life isn't fair; never was, never is.

Their mother had been called Maple; she was loving and fair, striving to give her kits the best life they could have, constantly warring with other waifs and strays for a bit of food or a place to sleep. Spruce and Cloud had been born in the cold season of leaf-bare, where tensions were high, regardless of species. They had been the strongest of the litter, and had been lucky from the start.

Maple had scarcely enough milk to feed her brood of five, and, unfortunately, Spruce and Cloud became her sole-remaining kits after a particularly brutal snowstorm claimed the lives of their sisters, Yew and Leaf; their other brother, a twin in terms of looks to Spruce called Birch, was snatched by a roaming twoleg, forced into the life of a pathetic kittypet.

That was three moons ago. Maple had decided that the small Twolegplace they'd called "home" since their birth was no longer safe for her diminished family. She had gathered her young kits and set off towards the rising sun; she wasn't a stranger to the stories of wild cats living in the woods around a great, blue lake that reflected the endless stars above. She had one goal, and that was to protect her family. Perhaps if she found these wild cats, she could join them, or at least give them her kits.

But, after two moons of travel and countless pawsteps walked, Maple, Cloud, and Spruce had crested a great rise in the earth. In the middle of the valley lay a lake brimming with the stars. An island sat near the edge, with a spindly fallen tree connecting it to the mainland.

Wind whispered soothingly, rustling the weary travelers whiskers. Cloud had blinked tiredly at her mother, who's blue eyes glowed with relief and satisfaction at the land sprawling endlessly before them.

They had followed their mother willingly, yet tiredly, down the slope and across a scraggy moor that smelled strongly of rabbit and cat. Maple had caught them a rabbit to share, ears pricked for the first sign of danger; the strong smell of cat had put Cloud and Spruce off, for the land was drenched in the scent. However, Maple had believed strongly that the offending odor belonged to one of the groups of wild cats that she had yearned to find for so long.

They didn't linger on the moor for long, quickly finishing the rabbit and scampering across a frigid stream separating the moor from deep forest. The forest also smelled of cat, but not wanting to create conflict so soon after arriving, Maple had urged her remaining kits across the obvious scent line into woods that smelled solely of leaves and rain and freedom.

Cloud hated not being able to explore freely, but Spruce was content to learn to hunt for both animals and herbs; Maple was quite proficient with medicinal herbs, and was happy to pass on her knowledge to him.

One day in a string of warm days towards the beginning of newleaf, the sun dawned over the lake like it always had. Spruce had risen to watch its ascent, Cloud snoring peacefully beside him in her nest under a large elderberry bush. Maple was already out hunting, promising to return by the sunrise. However, the day went on, and there was no sign of their mother. Cloud, who had woken not long after the sun reached its zenith, was slightly worried; it wasn't like their mother to lie, or to leave her vulnerable kits alone for so long. By sunhigh, Maple was still nowhere to be seen.

Spruce had wanted to track her, but Cloud didn't want to be left alone to watch the camp. Instead, they hunted nearby, quickly dispatching several mice between them and eating them hungrily.

As the sun began to descend, one look at the morose expression on her brother's face made up Cloud's mind for her; the littermates set off into the dusky twilight towards the Thunderpath tunnel where Maple favored to hunt.

As they approached the glittering black stone, a feeling of pure wrongness overcame Cloud. She slowed her walk, opening her jaws to scent the air for her lost mother. Spruce did the same, tail swishing in nervous agitation when he came up short.

Cloud was about to suggest they turn back to camp and wait for Maple there, thinking she may have returned and was waiting for them. She turned to say as much to Spruce, but was distracted at the sight in front of them.

It was Maple! She was sprawled in the shade of a bramble thicket near the side of the Thunderpath; she must be resting after a long day of hunting and doing stars-know-what!

Cloud ran towards her mother, Spruce following cautiously in her wake. "Mother? Mother! There you are!" Cloud exclaimed, half-exasperated, half-relieved. However, Maple showed no sign that she heard her kits at all.

Reaching out to prod Maple's brown-flecked shoulder, Cloud continued her rant in a quieter tone; her worry was evident. "Why did you leave us? We've been so worried! Why are you sleeping? Why are you—"

It was then she realized Maple was never going to hear her again. Never going to hunt for her, reassure her from the dangers of the world, never going to groom comfortingly between her ears again. Maple, her beloved mother, was dead.

A choked sob clawed its way out of her as she collapsed next to the cold, still form of her mother. Cloud and Spruce buried their noses in Maple's pelt, the sharp scent of grief permeating the air around them. The sun fully disappeared behind the looming pines, shadows slicing the grieving cats pelts with stripes of darkness to match their somber moods.


End file.
